February 15, 2010

'Just A Foot Soldier,' a Freedom Rider's story

On May 4, 1961, an integrated group of "Freedom Riders" left Washington D.C. for Louisiana on a Greyhound bus to challenge segregation throughout the Deep South. After the Freedom Riders’ bus was fire bombed in Alabama—with them inside--- and they nearly were killed, hundreds of other brave Riders put their lives in jeopardy to carry out the mission. I recently met a Freedom Rider who spent the summer of 1961 on a journey that would change the course of his life. Thomas Armstrong III, 68, is a retired transportation contracts manager for the U.S. Postal Service. A 21-year resident of Naperville, Armstrong, who’s black, was arrested on June 23, 1961, when he was a 19-year–old student at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss. He has an upcoming memoir, “Just A Foot Soldier.” This is his story:

At Tougaloo, I was a member of the NAACP, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) which each had a hand in the Freedom rides.

The Interstate Commerce Commission had already outlawed segregation in interstate travel but the federal government wasn’t enforcing it. After the bus was firebombed in Alabama, a group of Nashville students continued the ride to Jackson.

We were in Jackson watching intently and praying for the students’ safety. When they arrived at the bus terminal, they were arrested right as they got off the bus. We knew what jail meant in Mississippi: You went in but there was no guarantee that you’d come out.

When some of the Freedom Riders were released, they came to Tougaloo and asked for support to continue the rides from Jackson to Louisiana. Two of us joined them. It wasn’t a hard decision for me because the night before, the Mississippi governor had appeared on television and went on and on about how happy his ‘niggras’ were and how he had no problems with them. He said it was the outside agitators causing the problems.

I felt like: ‘Well, what would you say if there were inside agitators?’ The governor made me so angry because having grown up here I knew the condition of blacks in Mississippi. There were hardly any satisfied black people in Mississippi, not if they were sane.

On June 23, 1961, the two of us went to the Jackson Trailways station with two tickets to New Orleans. About 20 police officers stood outside the depot. About 20 more were inside as we walked into the ‘Whites Only’ waiting room.

The chief of police asked us to leave, saying we were disturbing the peace. I said, ’How?’ Other white people were there and on that particular day, they actually looked friendly. Everybody was smiling at us except the police. But he had to uphold the status quo. Not the law, the status quo.

We were arrested before we got on the bus and were taken to jail. I spent four days in jail---listening to the other Freedom riders sing freedom songs and tell stories--- before the jailer came in and told me to get out. I had no idea why I was being released. I was prepared to stay there at least 39 days. According to state law, that was the length of time they could hold you if you planned to appeal.

I later found out I was released because the NAACP wanted my case to be part of a class-action desegregation case filed on behalf of Joseph Broadwater, former President of the Jackson NAACP.

I left Mississippi in 1962 because there were threats to myself and my family. But until then, I spent the rest of my time making court appearances and demonstrating in a way that I could effective, but not get re-arrested.

What did I learn during that time? I learned that freedom is not just a destination, but a series of stops on a long and winding road.

***It wasn’t until the landmark legislation Congress passed in 1964 and 1968 prohibiting segregation in public facilities for interstate travel that many of the Freedom Riders' dreams were fulfilled.

Posted at 09:16:00 PM

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